Category Archives: Site Updates

November 10, 2006

Preliminary, unofficial election results (data and maps) for the 2006 Senate and Governor’s races are on-line. These data will be updated as election agencies across the country finalize and post official tallies. A final official compilation of data for all states is expected in early January. Population data for 2006 will be added when these data are released by the Census Bureau. Preliminary detailed spreadsheet files for these contests are available at the store. As always, once purchased, updates to spreadsheets are free.

July 30, 2006

The site has recently added state-level (and some county-level) data for the Presidential Elections of 1876, 1880, 1884, and 1888 to the database. The total figures for some states have changed slightly from the original html files due to differing figures between the primary sources referenced and the source used to create the original html tables (see What was the Real Popular Vote? entry for some additional information with regard to why popular vote figures for older elections are so variable.). Work continues to add data from older elections (state-level data, county-level data, county-boundary accuracy and image-mapping, etc.).

September 17, 2005

The new Wiki in addition to the continued growth of the Atlas Forum had caused the server to bog down on occasion. This performance issue has been addressed today with a memory upgrade (1.5GB from 750MB). Please continue to enjoy the site!

May 19, 2005

The New York Time published a number of articles on the polital geography of the battleground states during the 2000 campaign and election cycle. The articles included county maps and past election data that cited the Atlas as the source. I have asked for and have been granted permission to republish the articles on this site. They can be found on the Election Information page.

March 9, 2005

Yesterday, the Atlas was migrated to a new dedicated server using the same host provider. The content (web pages, images, databases, etc.) are now co-located on a 1.7GHz Celeron with 768MB or RAM running BSD UNIX. The move interrupted service for about 15-20 minutes during the day. The site (and particularly the forum) has grown in size and popularity. This move is expected to improve site performance, decrease response time, and reduce the number of failed database connects. Thanks to all for your patience and help through the transition.

November 4, 2004

Data and Maps have been uploaded to reflect the preliminary unofficial results of the 2004 Presidential Election. The site survived the massive traffic spike of the last two days – and although performance was slow from time-to-time, the site appeared to respond (at least the times I tried it). Site featurs will be re-enabled as traffic subsides. Thanks to everyone for the encouraging emails. Look soon for the county-level national map and the availability of the 2004 Election Data Spreadsheet.

May 10, 2004

I have modified the deluxe edition of the Electoral College Calculator to include the complexity of choosing Presidential Electors by Congressional District for the States of Maine and Nebraska. So far to date, the voters of these states have always awarded all Presidential Electors to one candidate. However, the possibility exists (particularly in Maine CD2) for a split result. The calculatore now supports this possibility.

April 1, 2004

I have received many questions with regard to my updating the Democratic primary results. The plan is to add these results to the site (county, congressional district maps and data) as they are officially canvassed by the official state agencies responsible for tabulating election data (my schedule permitting, of course). The canvassing process typically takes several weeks. This methodology provides for accurate results and requires only a single update per state. I plan to add results for all primaries prior to and including Super Tuesday this weekend.

January 30, 2004

Check out the new homepage! In addition, I have enabled the new site membership feature. I have been working this last year on creating a very detailed, versatile, database-driven site to provide even more information with greater flexibility. See the members information page for details on exactly what new data and features are available. I am asking for financial help to cover the increasing cost of bandwidth usage (some of the new features significantly increase bandwidth requirements when viewing site pages). The financial help is in the form of membership dues in exchange for access to these features. Alternatively, if you don’t want to pay, there is also the option to become a contributing member – where access is granted in exchange for donating (in some form such as data or code) to the site. Note that I am not removing any of the currently-available features. These will remain freely accessible to everyone. Enjoy!

January 24, 2004

I have performed a major site update today. Most of the old html files have been replaced by a database-driven set of scripts. Overall, this provides a signficant enhancement to the content, allowing for greater viewing choices and more flexibility (see, for example, the ability to sort state-level data according to margin of victory, vote percentages, etc.). Additional features also appear – such as home state maps. Also note that some of the vote totals have changed slightly. This is due to continuing research and adjustments to individual state and/or county totals. Such changes entered into the database now cascade through the entire site seamlessly (as opposed to the old method of updating every individual html page in which that piece of data was incorporated). If you discover any problems (broken links, strange appearance, etc.) please consider entering a bug in the new bug tracking database.